Food Security/Urban Agriculture/Human Health Benefits If you are thinking about raising rabbits as a superb food source because you fear global, national, or personal economic collapse - you are definitely not alone. We get several contacts weekly by folks with just such thoughts. We don't encourage raising your own food out of fear, because there is a commitment to raising animals that is not present with a few cases of freeze dried survival foods. We realize how lucky WE are that we live where we can provide ourselves with lamb, deer, wild turkey, catfish, rabbit, chicken & eggs as well as fruits, nuts, and vegetables - but the majority of the U.S. population no longer lives in a rural setting. In an urban/suburban situation most forms of agriculture are prohibited by short sighted government. Most Americans are now TOTALLY dependent on food being brought in to them YEAR ROUND by trucks and the fears of potential food scarcity are real and widespread. Rabbits are quiet and non-aggressive animals, thus restrictions on raising them in an urban setting are few. Rabbit manure, which will not burn plants, can be used to grow organic vegetables. The idea of rabbits as an emergency or survival food supply is not new. During W.W.II, many Americans used rabbits as part of what were called "Victory Gardens" to provide for themselves and save food resources for the troops. The rabbit has been a staple of Homo Sapiens since man first learned to throw a rock. If you are thinking of adding good organic home grown lean protein to your family's diet, a "trio" of rabbits can provide what is needed. You can alternate breeding your 2 rabbit does to a single buck and have a constant source of low fat high protein organically grown meat. (Click on the button on the top of this page for more about the human health benefits of domestic rabbit meat.) If you are planning however for a long term survival food supply, you may want to consider a minimum of 4 genetically diverse does and 2 unrelated bucks to allow for a sustainable herd of replacement animals that are not in-bred.

Efficient/Family-farm Friendly/Sustainable/Sideline Opportunities

As seen on this graph, rabbits and chickens are much more efficient at turning feed into meat than ruminants such as cows. When you add the fact a rabbit can be bred 5-6 times a year and produce 6-10 kits with each litter, there is no comparison. Rabbits win - hands down!

rabbit chicken pig goat sheep cow

3 days

20 days

50 days

As seen in the photos above, they grow FAST!

Other factors that make the rabbit so good for a family farm (or urban agriculture) is that you can raise them on any amount of acreage, you do not have to worry about the weather or predators, and they are non-seasonal - you have control over your "crop" more than any other form of agriculture. They can be raised by men, women, kids, or grandparents. Startup costs are much lower than most other forms of animal based agriculture. There are sideline opportunities as well utilizing rabbit skins for crafts and rabbit manure for composting for gardens and for growing worms.

RABBITS FOR SALE : COMMERCIALLY SELECTED NEW ZEALAND WHITES

New Zealand White Rabbits (NZW)Our foundation stock were obtained from Warmath Rabbitry in Kentucky and Seely's Ark in Florida. Both of these fine rabbitries are dedicated to selecting heavily for strong maternal traits such as large litters, well developed nesting ability, good milking ability based on litter weights, and strong maternal instincts. They have proven out. To date, 90% of our rabbits nest with their first litter and our usual litter size successfully raised is eight - nine rabbits reaching market weight in under 3 months.

We continuously select our breeding stock for greater heat tolerance. Some of the physical characteristics we look for are: large ears (much of a rabbit's heat dissipation is through the ears), long bodies (more room for growing babies), and non-dense fur. However, much of our selection is through the use of thorough records on each doe's productivity, specifically in the hottest temperatures or winter breeding slumps. As an example, in July/August of 2008 we bred many of our does in a few cool days and then we hit a heat wave of almost a month of greater than 90 degree temperatures. 83% of these does bred, had kits, and successfully raised them. None of our does or grow out animals died as a result of heat stress even with these extreme temperatures. These proven heat tolerant does have become our seed stock for future replacement animals for ourselves and for sale to other producers.

NZW Price and Availability: We try to keep a limited number of New Zealand White replacement does and bucks from our best stock available for sale as breeders. However, demand is high and we often have to run a waiting list. It would be best if you contacted us well in advance of your need. Our selected NZW breedstock rabbits are $30 each (bucks or does). For availability contact us at: info@chiggerridge.net. Please put "rabbits" in the subject line to prevent our spam filter from filtering you out. You can sometimes reach us by phone at 615-219-3204. We are located in middle Tennessee about 40 miles west of Nashville. We do NOT ship live rabbits.

Rabbits for sale: Altex - for faster kit growth.

Altex Rabbits The Altex is a commercial sire breed of rabbit developed at Alabama A&M and Texas A&M Universities (Thus the name: Al-Tex) by Dr. Steven Lukefahr Ph.D. and Dr. James McNitt Ph.D. Together these two men have authored over 150 publications on commercial rabbits and rabbit breeding including the "bible" of many rabbit ranchers - the book entitled "Rabbit Production" from Interstate publishers. The foundation breeds of the Altex were the Flemish Giant, Champagne d'Argent, and Californian. Dr. Lukefahr is a specialist in quantitative genetics and under his supervision the Altex was selected for heavy 70 day market weights for over 20 generations.

We obtained our foundation Altex stock directly from Dr. McNitt's University project herd. In addition to faster growing rabbits, the Altex has been selected for better heat tolerance and litter survival. The Altex is colored like a Californian but is much heavier. For a link to Dr. Lukefahr's rabbit project web site on the Altex please click here.

On Crossbreeding NZW does and Altex bucksIt is not recommended that rabbit producers switch from New Zealand White or Californian maternal lines to Altex. The Altex does not have the superb maternal characteristics of the NZW or Californian - they are a little harder to get to breed, they may not nest as well, and have more pronounced winter breeding slumps. The value of the Altex is as a terminal sire giving the rabbit rancher added hybrid vigor, faster weight gains, efficient performance, and greater profits. We have collected data from our Altex X NZW crosses versus straight bred NZW kits. The cross versus straight bred put together as one litter and raised by the same doe, will reach harvest weight a good 10-14 days earlier. The majority of our cross bred growers compared to our straight NZW growers will weigh 0.5 to 0.8 pounds more in the same amount of growth time on the same feed. The meat to bone ratio is higher in the crosses as well (i.e. better "cut out" at processing - which is, or course, what it is all about!). It is NOT recommended that you keep your cross-bred animals for breeding stock, you should keep pure NZW as breeding does and mix with your Altex bucks for your meat animals only. When you want replacement breeding does use your NZW buck with your NZW doe.

Altex Price and Availability:We sell Altex bucks currently for $60 each (and in our opinion they pay for themselves in added pounds of kits). Altex does are $40. We usually have a waiting list so contact us for availability: info@chiggerridge.net. Please put "rabbits" in the subject line to prevent our spam filter from filtering you out. You can also (sometimes) reach us by phone at 615-219-3204. We are located in middle Tennessee about 40 miles west of Nashville.

Note on shipping rabbits: Shipping rabbits with all of the airline fees and regulations has become completely cost prohibitive for the buyer and a pain in the butt for us. We can not ship rabbits at the current time.

Disclaimer: We have found that we receive numerous e-mails all with the same questions from those who are just getting started with raising meat rabbits for their own family or to sell to others. We will do our best to provide some of the very basics of commercial rabbit breeding here. When we say commercial, we mean that you are raising a fair number of rabbits, not just a few bunny pets. This means sanitation and health, ease of care, breeding success, and growth rate of kits are paramount. Please remember that what works for us may not work for you in your situation. We are just providing some practical free advice on a few of the things we have learned (sometimes the hard way). We are not veterinarians or experts by any means.

We recommend that anyone interested in raising happy, healthy rabbits obtain a good book or two. They are available (along with just about everything else you need) at Klubertanz or Bass Equipment Company - two of your most notable rabbit equipment specialty companies.

YOUR RABBIT HOUSE:

Your first consideration of course is how to house your rabbits. There are several considerations here. The first is obviously the weather in your area. Rabbits do well in cold temperatures as long as they have adequate calorie food and unfrozen water, but they need to be protected from winter winds. They absolutely hate heat and temperatures over 95 degrees can be lethal. Taking the above into account, for a commercial rabbitry of any size, we recommend a rabbit house with electricity rather than individual free standing hutches. The animals can thus be better protected from the elements and water systems set up that will not freeze. On the other hand, we are not saying you need to invest in a $10,000 building for your rabbits. A simple pole barn structure with chicken wire as walls can be covered with burlap or canvas in the winter to provide protection from winds and these can be removed in summer to allow air circulation. For those of you living in "tobacco country" like us, we have found old tobacco barns can be converted into excellent rabbitries as these barns are made to draft heat up (and away from the animals). The wide doors on the barns can be opened in summer to provide nice breezeways. It should be noted here that rabbits have extremely strong urine and without adequate air circulation (winter and summer) ammonia buildup can lead to respiratory problems.

The reason we would not try to run a commercial rabbit breeding facility without electricity will become evident below. In short, electricity allows you to set up freeze-proof automatic water systems (saving you tons of time in rabbit care), fans in the event of a heat wave, and controlled lighting to prevent winter breeding slumps and to increase your kit growth rates.

Finally, you have to consider what is to be done with the rabbit droppings. There are basically three options for this. 1) Catch pans which can be removed and cleaned - not really an option for a rabbitry of any size as it is too time consuming. 2) A system set up for hosing out underneath the cages. 3) Raising rabbits over worm beds. The third choice is our favorite, as the worms turn the droppings into the finest compost (it grows really big tomatoes). This also allows you to sell worms or the composted droppings to organic vegetable growers. Rabbit droppings are one of the few animal manures that can be applied to gardens directly and will not burn plants. We are talking sustainable agriculture here!

Rabbits can be obtained from us, or any reputable breeder WHO KEEPS RECORDS OF PRODUCTION!

The rest can be obtained from rabbit specialty equipment dealers such as: Klubertanz or Bass Equipment Company

THE CAGE:

It is recommended a doe and her nest have at least 6 square feet of space minimum. We have found that anything over 2 feet deep, however, makes it difficult to reach into corners for cleaning or to catch that elusive baby bunny (unless you have arms as long as my husband's!). Our favorite size after trying several: 2 feet deep by 3 feet long. If you are going to take up floor space with food and water dishes (not recommended for inside the cage anyway) the cage dimensions may have to be increased.

The wire on the sides is 1"X2" and the floor is 0.5"X1" to allow droppings to fall through. "Baby Saver" wire has a strip of the smaller size wire along the bottom of your walls to prevent kits from falling out of the cage if they end up out of the nest.

PELLET FEEDER:

When you are talking of a commercial rabbit operation, it is essential that large numbers of animals are able to be fed efficiently and that the feeders remain sanitary. Thus the "fine-x" feeders situated outside the cage is our choice. There is no opening and closing of rabbit cage doors to slow down feeding and pellets stay outside the cage where it can't be contaminated. The pellet "fines" (fine dusty particles found in all pelleted feed) drop through the screen of the feeder and outside the cage. Otherwise these particles (which rabbits will not eat) build up in the feeder and if they get moist can lead to toxic mildew. With bottom screened feeders (such as "Fine-X" situated properly, your feeders very rarely have to be cleaned out at all.

HAY FEEDER:

Whether or not it is necessary at all to feed hay to your rabbits is somewhat controversial among breeders. Almost all of the commercially produced rabbit pellets claim to have "adequate" fiber and require no additional hay. We feed hay daily to provide our bunnies with occupation and a more natural food. They love it and begin to eat it at a very young age. It seems to eliminate potential problems with diarrhea as the kits move to solid foods.

Here at Chigger Ridge Rabbitry, we have had virtually zero problems with enteritis (infectious diarrhea) in our rabbitry which we attribute to our hay policy. It is essential however, that like your pellet feeder and watering system, the animals not be allowed to contaminate their hay with their droppings. Just throwing a handful of hay in the door is probably worse than not feeding it. We use outside hanging feeders situated so the rabbits only pull in a piece at a time. We have found the largest size feeders placed so that it is shared between two cages as pictured above, helps to lower feeder costs.

WATERING SYSTEM:

Water bowls are time consuming to clean and refill. This can lead to a more unsanitary environment open to the spread of disease as the babies especially may easily contaminate them. Water bottles are a better option, but still require a lot of time to clean and fill. A nursing doe with older kits can drink a LOT of water. In winter in colder climate areas, there is also the problem of freezing of either water bowls or bottles, necessitating the need for filling them more than one time a day.

We recommend some sort of automatic watering system in a rabbitry of any size. These systems incorporate a small cheap bird bath heater and recirculating water pump to keep the water from freezing or alternatively heated wires run through pipes. PVC pipe is run through the bank of cages, and small rabbit size lick valves are installed along the pipe for each cage. These systems can even be plugged into a "thermo cubes" to automatically switch it on as the temperature drops toward freezing. With such a system, watering turns into a small part of the rabbit care.

RESTING BOARDS:

This can be almost anything that is not cage wire and that the rabbits can't eat. It is simply to provide a different surface to prevent pressure points known as "sore hocks". Large rabbits (such as the Altex or heavy New Zealand Whites), need these more than the lighter breeds or younger rabbits. Some"Rabbiteers" use wooden boards, but we don't. Wood is organic and is difficult to disinfect properly. You can purchase resting boards from rabbit supply houses, or use your imagination as you walk through Lowes... We like large ceramic floor tiles (cheap) for example, although the board in the photo above is one designed specifically for rabbits and allows droppings and urine to pass through.

NEST BOXES:

After a doe has her babies in the nest and raised them for a couple of weeks, you can imagine it is not the most sanitary of containers. For this reason, we like a disposable cardboard nest box insert set in a wire nest box and filled with straw. The cardboard sides can be cut down in the summer to allow better air circulation for the kits. Wood is difficult to disinfect properly - so again, we do not use it.

GENERAL RABBIT SOCIAL INFORMATION:

Rabbits are very social as kits and actually seem to do better in larger groups of 7-9 rather than just 2-3 together. They feel safer, will play together, groom each other, and sleep in a pile for warmth if it is cold. At three months old, however, the males may begin to fight and must be housed separately from this point. Females can often be kept in smaller groups of 2-3 until they are old enough to breed at five to six months. Then they become territorial and want their own "space". They still seem to feel more comfortable if they are close to other rabbits though, even when they reach maturity. A very few people try to set up breeding "colonies" of rabbits, where larger groups are kept in larger cages. As rabbits do not do this in the wild, we try to keep to what is more natural for them. As adults, rabbits are solitary and territorial.

BREEDING:

At five to six months old, most of the meat rabbit breeds are sexually mature. They can breed earlier however, and females should not be kept in with males after about three months old. Always take the female to the male to mate. She is protective of her cage and will attack a male put in with her. Rabbits are seasonal breeders in the wild, so by having electricity run to your rabbit barn, you are able to regulate "day length" with full spectrum lighting to help prevent seasonal winter breeding slumps. We set our lights on a timer to allow 18 hours of light, as our barns are in shaded areas that do not allow a lot of natural light. Selecting your breeding stock for prolific easy breeding doe lines is also of paramount importance. If the mating does not occur within minutes, it usually won't. You can try the doe with another buck, and/or the buck with a different doe or if necessary wait to breed that doe again the next day. Some people use their bucks with more than one doe a day, but he can not be used with doe after doe in a short space of time and be expected to replace sperm. Overweight or stressed (including heat stressed) rabbits, are the most common reasons for poor breeding performance. In the winter, however, according to the experts, inadequate caloric intake can also reduce mating success. Note: Altex or other large breed rabbits may take longer for the females to reach sexual maturity.

NESTING, NURSING, AND WEANING:

We put straw filled nest boxes in at 28 days after breeding. Some does immediately begin pulling fur and making a nest to their satisfaction, others wait until just prior or even just after giving birth. It is best to keep strangers out of the rabbitry at this time and a nesting doe should never be housed next to a buck, as she may try to "protect" her kits by eating them. A doe has 8 nipples and a good NZW doe may have as many as 14-15 kits. If we know she is a good milker, we may leave 9-11 in with her to raise, but more than that and the weaker ones will often die, or the whole litter may live but be stunted. If you have another mom with kits who has a smaller litter, she will readily accept more to raise. You don't have to do anything special with them, just place them in the nest with her kits (rabbits can't count!). Never of course, take babies from a sick doe and place them in with a healthy litter. It is usual to put a doe on full free choice feed while she is nursing. One must remember, however, that for the first few days the babies are not drinking a whole lot. If you throw the doe on full feed immediately, it may encourage her to make more milk than the babies can drink, thus setting the stage for possible mastitis. Feed should be increased slowly over several days.

The kits stay in the nest until their eyes are open at two weeks. They begin "popping" out of the nest at three weeks. Nests can be removed as early as two weeks, but we leave in longer in the winter.

At four weeks the kits can be weaned. Some breeders keep the kits in with the mom until they are grown. We believe this is harder on the mom, who can not get away from the litter to wean them. Every time she may go to eat or drink, the babies try to nurse. This can lead to a doe losing body condition and even to having injured nipples. (We have hand raised some kits, and at four weeks they can chew through any small animal pet nursing bottle!). If you have a creep feeder for the kits, you can begin to cut the doe's ration before weaning to allow her milk to dry up. If not, you can cut the ration somewhat and remove the largest kits first and just leave her a couple of the smallest to help her dry up more slowly.

GROW OUTS:

We are always asked the question: How long does it take from weaning at one month until it is time to harvest a meat rabbit? This depends on many factors. It is impossible to give an exact number of days. At the same time, it is a most important aspect of a successful commercial rabbit venture. From one month to harvest is when the rabbit will eat increasing amounts of feed, and begin to slow in growth rate - thus this time period needs to be as short as possible from an economic standpoint. Also, as a rabbit ages, like any other animal it has less tender meat. A rabbit is usually harvested at 4.75 to 5.75 pounds for a commercial end product. If you are just raising for family meat, 4.5 pounds will still give you a good meat to bone ratio. You need to reach this goal in less than 4 months to have what is considered a "fryer" (as opposed to tougher "roaster") rabbit.

There are four factors that we consider to be the most important in moving your harvest time from the maximum of 4 months, closer to the 2 month mark. If anyone out there is hitting 4.75 pounds in much less than 2 months with a normal 8 bunny litter, please let us know - we'd like your secret!

1) Rabbit genetics. Altex by New Zealand White cross rabbits, due to the Altex breed development and the advantages of hybrid vigor in cross breeds (see above under Altex), will almost invariably reach harvest weights as much as 1-2 full weeks ahead of most of our straight-bred New Zealand Whites. There are one or two lines of NZW we have now that are almost as good as the crosses, but they are a rare exception. Along with litter size, nesting ability, and ease of breeding, your replacement does and bucks should always be selected from your fastest growing stock.

2) Feed Quality. In a commercial enterprise, one always has to balance the protein and fat content of the available feed, with the cost of that feed. You need the best feed that will give you pounds of meat per dollar spent. Next to breeding stock genetics, feed is the most important consideration of the rabbit enterprise.

3) Ambient Temperature. Your grow-outs will eat less in the heat and there isn't a whole lot you can do to change this if you don't have a temperature controlled facility. Locating your rabbitry in shaded areas and providing fans when needed helps somewhat, but you can count on a little slower growth during extremely hot temperatures no matter what. They much prefer cooler weather, and will generally grow quite well in the cold as long as they are protected from winds and have adequate fat and calorie food to maintain themselves.

4) Daylight. Dr. McNitt of the famed Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Louisiana, maintained a Rabbit Research Facility for many years and he told us his findings indicated that 18 hour of light contributed almost more than any other single controllable factor in rapid weight gain.